Adoption Status Update

The latest batch of referrals from the China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) was for families whose applications were received April 1 through 3, 2006. That's a smaller than predicted batch. :(

Number of China Adoptions Continue to Decrease

According the US Department of State's newly released numbers on adoptions to the United States, the number of adoptions from China decreased from 3,911 in FY 2008 to 3,001 in FY 2009; that's a decrease of about 23%. There's been a 62% decrease in the number of adoptions from China to the United States since FY 2005. I posted about previous numbers in this post.

What the State Department's numbers don't show is that the number of "special needs" (SN) children being adopted has significantly increased. Many SN children have very correctable and minor needs that can easily be corrected or or have already been corrected through surgery or treatment like cleft lip and/or palate, heart defects, birthmarks, missing fingers or toes, limb differences, droopy eyelids, etc. There's a chance we may see how we fit into SN program in the new year... the wait is potentially shorter.

Still waiting on the next batch of referrals...hopefully some info surfaces during the first week of January.

Adoption Status Update

The latest batch of referrals from the China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) appears to have matched babies with families whose applications were received March 29 through 31, 2006. It took 10 months to provide referrals for applications received in March of 2006. Now... onto April of 2006, which I hope will not take more than six months to get through.

Adoption Status Update

The latest batch of referrals from the China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) appears to have matched babies with families whose applications were received March 25 through 28, 2006; March 25 and 26 were weekend days. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, there were apparently a lot of applications logged in on the 27 and 28, so I am not too discouraged. I am predicting the next batch will match through April 1... and wishing it would cover through April 3. We'll see!

Financial Times: "Adopted Chinese daughters seek their roots"

Awesome article that touches on fewer Chinese females being available for adoption.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/cc97dd18-a719-11de-bd14-00144feabdc0.html

Adoption Status Update

The latest batch of referrals (processed during August) from the China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) appears to have matched babies with families whose applications were received March 23 and 24, 2006. As I mentioned earlier, there were apparently a lot of applications logged in those days, so I am not discouraged.

There appears to be a lot of applications logged in on March 27, 28, and 29, so next month I am expecting (really hoping that) the batch will cover 4 days -- the 25th through the 28th. After all, March 25 and 26 were weekend days!

Adoption Status Update

The latest batch of referrals (processed during June/July) from the China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) appears to have matched babies with families whose applications were received March 21 and 22, 2006. There were apparently a lot of applications logged in those days.

I've been eyeballing some polls on prospective adoptive parents' log-in-dates (PAP LIDs), and I'm going to venture to guess that the next batch of referrals will cover 3 days, and that the third batch from now (in October or November) will finally close out the March 2006 dates. Once they get to the April applications, I expect the days should pass a little more quickly.

Today, I started a...

BABY REGISTRY!

Adoption Status Update

The latest batch of referrals (processed during May and some of June) from the China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) appears to have matched babies with families whose applications were received March 15 through 20, 2006.

Three year anniversary of LID

Tomorrow, June 19, it will be three years since the China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) received and logged in our adoption application. LID=Log In Date. Three years.

I don't really know what to say about this anniversary... sure you all know that when we started the process, we expected to wait about a year and a half to bring our child home... and that we've been quite patient and enjoying our life together in the meanwhile.

Could I say the wait has been tough? You bet. Could I say I've considered whether we should drop out of the China adoption program given that we might be waiting another year and a half, maybe more, maybe less? Yes, I've considered that. Could I say that I've imagined holding our child in our arms and bringing her home? Well, cha, yeah. I am sure I could share a lot more about the wait if I really thought about it. But instead, I'll choose to make an adoption journal entry privately- it has been six months since the last time I wrote in it... maybe my entry will be a short note to our child-to-be.

And I will continue to await rumors on the next batch of referrals...

My CPO

CPO Ezzelle in his dress blues.

WOW.

What else can I say?

Very nice, Chief.

Adoption Status Update

This past month (April) the China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) appears to have matched babies with families whose applications were received March 9 through 14, 2006. Just to recap, for the past four months they have been working on matching March 2006 applications; the polls/estimates show there were a lot of applications logged in during March.

At this rate, one might estimate it will take at least another four months to finish referring for March. And then our eyes are on April, May, and June (our month) for which the polls/estimates show fewer applications.

Is it possible our wait will be less than a year and a half now?!?! I'll keep you posted every month.

Loving the green

Below is Lunch, Part II. Seaweed salad. And a bit spicy, I might add. I love green.

I only peeled back half of the plastic wrap so I would refrain from eating it all.

And if you are wondering what are those crumbs underneath the green on the plate, that would be remnants of the infamous Radish Sandwich.

Yes, we adopted (a dog)

If you haven't already heard, we adopted the last dog we were fostering. Her name is Daisy (she is just learning it), and she is a 6-year old, 44 pound Walker hound mix that was picked up in Southwest Virginia in January. Before we got her, she had 4 teeth pulled, a mastectomy, and was spayed -- even has a tattoo to indicate it! She's VERY quiet for a hound and mostly likes to sleep all day in a corner.

Here's a picture of her riding home from the vet today; the little bugger got into the front seat. And another picture of her as my office mate (smushed in between the filing cabinet and garbage can).

Maxine tolerates her, just like she did Sammy. As with Sammy, they really don't bother with each other.

"Favorable Determination" For the Third Time

Our Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition has been approved - for the third time in our nearly three year wait - resulting in our receipt of the I-171H document. The I-171H from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) indicates we are "able to furnish proper care to an orphan" and that we've been approved for one child up to 18 months old, either boy or girl (all that is exactly what we asked for), and the embassy in Guangzhou, China has been notified. The approval is only valid for 18 months, and the fingerprint checks that are also required are only valid for 15 months, and, as many of you know, we started this process many moons ago; i.e., nearly 36 months ago.

We are still waiting to hear how far the CCAA got this past month in matching applications with children. There was talk that the H1N1 virus may be holding up the release, but hopeful me awaits rumors next week.

In the Toilet

I just pulled a a dear coworker's ID badge out of the toilet at work. Is that SO bad? Of course the toilet had been flushed.

Should I have been a plumber instead of a psychometrician? Would that have helped me with my overwhelming fear of toilets overflowing?

Happy Easter!

Make sure you get all the Peeps you can! And check out the Washington Post's Peeps Diorama Contest Gallery.

Adoption Status Update

This past month (March) the China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) appears to have matched babies with families whose applications were received March 7 and 8, 2006. Like the last two months, that's only 2 days worth of LIDs matched in a month, and once again, that's OK given that so many applications were received in March, 2006 -- especially March 7!

All sorts of updates

Here it is, another rainy weekend in Northern Virginia. My husband is home for the weekend, and we are preparing for the our move. Packing starts in two weeks, and I am SO VERY HAPPY the military takes care of the packing and moving!

I am still fostering Daisy and got her medical records yesterday when I took her to an adoption event (there were two shoppers that liked her and her "polite" behavior, but alas, they weren't looking to adopt that day). She was spayed on January 30 and that's not all that happened during that surgery: she also had 4 teeth extracted and a mastectomy. She's listed as being potentially hard-of-hearing on the LDCRF website, and I am continue with hand training.

Perhaps this week we'll hear rumors of how far the CCAA got in matching applications to prospective adoptive parents in March.

Daisy, foster dog #3: An enigma

Honestly, I was just going to buy Maxine more dog food yesterday, and I ended up bringing home another dog to foster. Daisy is a six year old hound mix... what kind of hound, I don't know... maybe a sight hound breed. She doesn't respond to any commands -in English or in Spanish- and has been very slow to learn any on day one. Yet she walks pretty good on a leash, sometimes quite slow. I haven't heard a peep out of her except for sometimes when she yawns. She's been exposed to a tick-borne disease or two and treated for them. Hmmmm. Hey, at least she's housetrained.

Any thoughts?

Adoption Status Update

This past month (February) the China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) matched babies with families whose applications were received March 3 through 6, 2006. OK, so that's only 2 days worth of LIDs (March 4 & 5 were the weekend), but that's OK given that so many applications were received in March!

Did I tell you?

It's been nearly two months since DH returned from Afghanistan where supposedly he was working an office/desk job ... and he was. In addition -did I tell you?- after being promoted to Chief, he was in charge of a personal security driving team, driving through Kabul and/or up to Bagram every day in up-armored Toyota Land Cruisers! He didn't tell a soul back here so as not worry our pretty little heads. Me? Worry? Nahhhhh.

And if I didn't tell you this, too: DH's next "sea duty" assignment is at COMDESRON 22 in Norfolk, VA. We'll complete the move in April, and I will come to my DC office 2x month and work remotely the rest of the time.

Ezzelle Fun at Google Maps

My-oh-my, where does the time for blogging go? Surely not to silly fun stuff like this:

For those of you who know our address, type it into Google Maps and then click on street view. Pan to the right and you will see Chris and I sitting on the porch and Maxine and dearly departed Sammy at the front gate!

I figure this view must have been snapped in fall of 2007 given the presence of Sammy & all those leaves.

Adoption Status Update

This past month (January) the China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) matched babies with families whose applications were received March 1 and 2, 2006. It may have been a relatively short month of matching because the CCAA worked to get this batch of referrals out before they close for the Spring Festival holiday (a.k.a. Chinese New Year) next week.

Climb, sister, climb!

My sister is currently in Egypt on a cross-cultural trip for school (the Lancaster Theological Seminary). Today she's slated to be visiting St. Catherine's Monastery and climbing Mt. Sinai. According to the Internet, the traditional Mount Sinai is actually the name of a collection of peaks, sometimes referred to as the Holy Mountains. This peak is traditionally considered to be biblical place where Moses communicated with God and received the Ten Commandments. It also has considerable religious significance to Islam as the place where Mohammed's horse, Boraq, ascended to heaven.

She's also been snorkeling in the Red Sea on this trip! I am sure there's much education going on during this trip as well. I just want to see pictures upon her return!

Honoring George Fabik

There is a page on the George 1 Recovery Project web site that honors my dear friend's father, George Fabik, who spent the last few years of his life working tirelessly to bring home the remains of three Navy men who died when their plane crashed in Antarctica in 1946. The main part of the George 1 Recovery Project site tells the story of the George 1, discusses its mission, details the crash and deaths of Ensign Max Lopez, navigator, Aviation Radioman 1st Class Bud Hendersin, radioman, and Aviation Machinist’s Mate 1st Class Fred Williams, flight engineer. It also outlines the plans of the George 1 Repatriation Mission and their efforts to bring these men home.

Mr. Fabik always seemed to be doing good deeds, sharing good stories, and/or showing an interest in and caring about others. This project is one shining example of his talent for thinking of others in pursuit of a noble cause. Bravo!